Monster School!

Monster School was fun but also had mysterious legends. Everyone was fast asleep in bed when… a strange knocking awoke them all about midnight.

All the children and staff came down in crumpled pyjamas except the school butler, who was wearing his perfectly brushed uniform.

“Who could it be?” everybody was murmuring among themselves.

“Surely it could not be a visitor at this time!” exclaimed Mr. Glump, the headmaster.

But it was, and it was the most surprising visitor that had ever darkened the hallways of Monster School. The visitor had sharp fangs. He was wearing a black cape with an enormous collar. There was no doubt that he was a fully grown vampire. But he had such a weary look on his face that no one could help feeling sorry for him instead of being scared.

Everybody was lost for words. At last, the head girl, Creepella, mustered up her courage and asked him, “Mr. Vampire, who are you? What are you doing here?”

Suddenly there was a pattering of feet, and one of the kids, Lydia, came out shrieking, “Uncle, Uncle, you finally came to visit me just like you said in your letter last term.”

The whole school took in this remarkable statement in silence.

“My dear Lydia, I am pleased to have finally met my niece, but I fear that I might cause a bit of trouble for you.”

With that, he vanished into thin air.

Lydia was gentle and kind, and those qualities went a long way among monsters. It was these qualities that made Lydia the most popular girl in the school.

As soon as her “uncle” had gone, her classmates crowded around her, trying to get more information out of her. But she had clammed up and was muttering to herself, “I said I won’t, and I have.”

“What do you think she meant?” Creepella asked Lydia’s best friend, Julie.

“Well, she was talking about raiding the garden yesterday, but I figured that she was joking. Also, Lydia told me that she is a demi-monster. You know, the kind that has monster, human and god blood in their bloodline.”

“Well, let’s not worry about all that right now and get some sleep. I don’t know about you lot, but I am feeling super sleepy. It’s three o’clock in the morning,” said Mr. Glump.

The next morning, Creepella made her usual inspection of the school and discovered a disturbing piece of news: the school garden had been ransacked!

She immediately called an emergency meeting for the whole school. Everyone assembled in the Great Hall and listened solemnly to what Creepella said.

There was an immediate response of outrage and cries of, “Who is it?” and “I would like to pull the thief’s hair out!”

She then made a group of the monsters with the best eyesight, hearing, and deductive reasoning. Queenie, Tessie, Patrica, Isabel, Elizabeth, Roberta, Janet, Claudine, Angela, Sheila, Jennifer, and herself were all in this group.

Once the meeting was dismissed, the Thunderous Twelve, which they had named themselves, went out to look for clues. They found two: some curious square-shaped footprints and a piece of navy-blue cloth on a brick wall.

The footprints expert in the group, Jennifer, instantly recognised the first clue as stilt prints.

They had their first meeting as the Thunderous Twelve in the barn. First, they separated all the students who could use stilts and all those who couldn’t.

“Mary, Joan, Eileen, Lydia, Hilary, Doris, Darrell, Sally and Collette all can walk using stilts. From us, Patrica, Janet and Tessie can. All others can’t,” reported Isabel.

“Also, from the girls whose names Isabel mentioned, Darrell and Lydia have navy blue coats with a little hole in each of them,” said Roberta.

Suddenly the door burst open and Queenie rushed in, panting.

“Sorry I’m late, but I just remembered what Julie told us. Remember? About Lydia talking about raiding the garden.”

“Yes, and that uncle of hers might be staying here somewhere. She must be stealing food from the kitchen garden for him,” suggested Angela.

They decided to go and ask Lydia if this was true. As soon as she heard that they had guessed her little secret, she broke down and confessed that it was just as they had thought and that she was very sorry.

The head girl decided to call a meeting and simply say that they had figured out who the thief was and that it was not necessary to tell everyone who she was.

Lydia was very, very thankful that it had not been disclosed that she was the thief that she almost hugged Creepella!

I bumped into Lydia yesterday—that’s how I know. So, if you ever go there, do keep Lydia’s secret!